Loveland inventor goes big at Burning Man with giant sculpture

The RV had broken down again when Ed VanDyne started questioning his sanity.

The Loveland inventor and his team had spent six months building their high-flying sculpture "Dragonfly Mating Ritual."

And, after almost three weeks in Nevada's Black Rock Desert showcasing it at Burning Man, they were driving back to Colorado earlier this month in a used — and unpredictable — RV VanDyne had purchased just for the journey.

"On the way home, we were having all kinds of breakdowns," he said. "So we happened to be broken down on the side of the road, and it comes up."

The discovery gave way to VanDyne yelling "We're in Rolling Stone!" on the side of the road, he recalled.

"It was a huge boost when we needed a boost," he said.

Engineering art

By day, VanDyne is a mechanical engineer and inventor running his clean energy company, Apollo Hybrid, out of CSU's Powerhouse Energy Campus in Fort Collins.

Off the clock, he's part of The Rocky Mountain High Flyers Guild, a team of "misfits, artists and engineers" who piece together intricate engineered sculptures with a mix of methodical whimsy.

VanDyne, Brandon Overholt, Joel Diffendarfer and Shane Bryan were behind "Dragonfly Mating Ritual," which reached a height of almost 40 feet when constructed at Burning Man.

Built to resemble a flower, the sculpture included a spray of constructed petals sitting atop the structure's tall base — or stem. Metal arms reached out from the flower to form a swirling mobile, with little dragonfly and other art pieces dangling from its ends.

This story continues after the photo.

The top of "Dragonfly Mating Ritual" at Burning Man.(Photo: Ed VanDyne)

Limited in funding, VanDyne said the guild originally planned to construct a dragonfly on top of the sculpture's flower. With this year's Burning Man festival theme being "radical rituals," VanDyne said they wanted to draw on the rather rough and tumble mating ritual of dragonflies, who form hearts with their bodies as they mate.

"Being from Loveland, we wanted to do a heart-themed piece," VanDyne said.

Though the giant dragonfly didn't make the final cut, "Dragonfly Mating Ritual" is "by far the most massive sculpture" VanDyne said he's ever done.

The sculpture caught some eyes at Burning Man, but VanDyne said many people watched it from afar until they realized they could get close and even climb up into its stem.

That's what Rachel Brill and Lee Yanco did. The couple — friends of a friend of VanDyne's — actually ended up meeting up with the sculpture's creators at Burning Man to have their wedding inside the quirky creation.

Three of VanDyne's other pieces, including the fire-breathing dragon sculpture, will also be at Maker Faire Denver at Denver Mart, 451 E. 58th Ave.

Locally, the guild's first Burning Man contraption is currently on display at the Loveland CreatorSpace, 320 Railroad Ave. The CreatorSpace is open for tours and open meetings from 6 to 8 p.m. on Mondays.

As for his future with quirky Northern Colorado contraptions — and the possibility of another visit to Burning Man next year — VanDyne said he's just enjoying a break for the time being.

But if he and the guild do load up the RV and drive out to the desert with another surreal sculpture next year, it will all be part of the radical ritual.